Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is shaping up to be one of the year's biggest releases, certainly for Switch owners. As one of Nintendo's biggest properties - which pulls together characters from a dizzying number of franchises, including a bunch of third-party legends, no less - Smash is the kind of game that attracts the attention of players from all over the global gaming community, so it's fair to assume that plenty of people will be tuning in when today's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct airs at 7AM PT / 10AM ET / 4PM CEST / 3PM BST.

We've been told to expect new information from director Masahiro Sakurai, but what are your personal wishes for this broadcast? Are you hoping to see more confirmed characters or do you think we'll be given fresh info on game modes? Perhaps this broadcast will go in-depth on the various changes and tweaks that have been made to the game's engine, or maybe Sakurai has something totally and utterly unexpected that he's going to spring on us?

Let us know what you're wishing for by sharing your thoughts with a comment, and don't forget you can watch the Direct right here, where we'll also be live-blogging things as they unfold.

What one thing above all others do you want to see during today's Smash Bros. Direct? (433 votes)

New fighters, please!

30%

More game modes, thanks!

39%

New stages or Assist Trophies will be enough to please me!

1%

More detail on confirmed features, cheers!

3%

I don't really know, I'm just excited all the same!

10%

I'm not a fan of Smash so I'm not really bothered

Damien has over a decade of professional writing experience under his belt, as well as a repulsively hairy belly. Rumours that he turned down a role in The Hobbit to work on Nintendo Life are, to the best of our knowledge, completely and utterly unfounded.

@Damo Please could you remove the hint at a certain fighter? I was trying to avoid spoilers for the direct, as I'm sure others were. The article you linked to even has a spoiler warning. Thank you for doing it.

Characters are great and all, but if Smash Wii U/3DS lacked anything, it was single player content. I want some sort of Adventure Mode! I absolutely don't expect another Subspace Emissary but something within the vein of Melee's would be fantastic.

Switch is my first Nintendo console since the N64. Can someone please explain the appeal of Smash Bros to me as I just don’t get it? I played the 3DS demo and was utterly mystified at what was going on. Is it more than a standard beat ‘em up? I’m genuinely keen to understand why the franchise means so much to so many!

Given the above, I hope there’s some non Smash Bros news, like a surprise announcement for an August or September game. Is there really going to be no flagship game for either of these two months? If so I predict a Smash Bros beta will be the big Sept game, behind the paid online service.

I’d rather this be a Metroid Prine direct tbh… or give me an update on Dark Souls before I cancel my ore-order out of apathy. The last few Smash’s never held my attention in the same way Melee did. The 1 player mode in that was brilliant!

@Roarsome imagine all of your favorite characters in one game, and not just a basic game that is purely about how many characters there are, but with great game play and replay value. That is Smash Bros. The fact I can fight as Mario against Sonic the hedgehog, or Link against Samus , Solid Snake vs Pacman, its truly something that no other game can even come close to in its scope. Whether you like the game or not, the appeal is clear

the only thing i want is that they announce the release of the switch in china, my long shot teroy being the date 8.8.2018 , 8 being aluck number in china, desperation but im a share holder so ill take anything

@AlternateButtons I agree. We don't really need anymore characters as the roster is already huge and everyone has at least one character they like. Sure people would prefer other characters but it isn't a necessity.

On the other hand some more modes would help with the longevity of the game. Things like home run and target run are great and should be included, along with some other wacky mini games.

Something that wasn't listed in the poll, but I hope is touched upon, is more details regarding the online. Hopefully Nintendo see this game as the game to get it right with.

I'm sure that this game is fantastic so I don't really care that much about what they show, it's going to be fantastic anyway. Because of that, I don't really care about hearing news about Smash bros (a game that I already know will be at least great) but I'd like a lot to hear that Nintendo will change their behaviour and be more respectful towards their customers. Games like this one make me still care about Nintendo even if, at this point, I'd like to just forget about them. I hate how they treat their own products and gamers that are their customers, but I just love so much their games... I still hope that hings will change, even if I feel I will never be able to really trust them as I used to do in the past...

Hope to see more modes,stages, trophies and features. As the only think that can I know will happen is an character reveal or two. Not counting echo characters since Nintendo did not make a big deal about Daisy joining the roster as an echo

I'm mainly interested in seeing some new fighters. I would be cool with Simon Belmont as I am a long time Castlevania fan. I also wouldn't be at all surprised to see Rayman added to the roster, especially considering all the collaboration between Nintendo and Ubisoft lately.

@Roarsome the way smash is designed makes it instantly accessible, each character has the same basic controls to perform moves, but moves will be different depending on who you pick. The game looks and plays like a standard platformer, and the objective is to launch your opponent out of the arena while staying alive yourself.

Each player has a damage meter which determines how far they will launch when hit. 0% means they will only launch a short distance while 100% means they will be launched a great distance.

This launching mechanic makes matches very tense because it's not as simple as hitting your opponent until they die, you have to hit them in such a way that they cannot recover.

Since they're devoting an entire direct, I'm expecting something beefy. Something like at least one game mode, maybe items (or) maps, and definitely 1-2 character reveals. I wouldn't be surprised if one character was a new third party rep.

I tempered my expectations, so anything past that is gravy. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Sakurai/Nintendo did something off the wall though.

@Regpuppy Like almost the entire E3 presentation being devoted to Smash. /sigh

I think I had enough dose of Smash info for a long while now. So I am gonna skip this Direct!Where is that Nintendo Direct that was going to announce some other big games for this year, they said were not announced yet?

@NewAdvent thanks! Hopefully there’s a test smash weekend or two with a decent training mode to get to grips with things before I go online. Mario Tennis I went online and got absolutely destroyed several times before getting fed up. These really competitive games always have such a high level of entry. I can hold my own on Arms or Splatoon by I expect Smash to be too competitive to be fun to play as a novice.

@Roarsome I think you'll be surprised. If you enter a 4 player game it's mostly about the fun side of the game rather than the competitive side. I am a firm believer that Smash Bros really shines in local multiplayer though.

@Roarsome You can also play against the computer, changing the difficulty for each computer player individually as well. There’s also been other modes in previous smash games like home run contest (hit a sandbag far), target smash (break targets with a time limit), and scenario fights. All those run on the same scenario of high damage = fly away.

On topic of the poll, I’d like to see something about the game modes. I’ve already blocked that time slot as “in a meeting” time, and am taking some popcorn to work.

@Roarsome Haha I know what you mean when it comes to entry level for Smash. My suggestion is do not play online, it becomes competitive very quickly and doesn't give you a chance to play properly/ get used to it. They all play very similarly so if you want to try one out, get one of the older ones cheaply, Wii u is my favorite so far, although for single player Brawl is king. It works as a "Hardcore" fighting game, and as a party game with friends. The entry level is only as high as the opponents your playing against , so aim to play with newcomers if you can at first

@BensonUii You misspelled Ribbon Girl and Twintelle! How could you misspell both of them?!

Seriously, I'd love to see at least one ARMS fighter in Smash. It would give ARMS a big boost in recognition, and I think it's a natural fit. I won't be too heartbroken if it doesn't happen, though, as there are already SOOOOOOOO many characters. Solo story mode is honestly my number one wish for this game.

@BensonUii Ahhh so it's not very analogue friendly? Well hopefully they drop a demo so people can get a feel for it, the other thing to remember is a lot of people purchasing Switches could well be first timers to the world of Smash as well.

I really just want to see the return of a story mode. That would put the icing on the cake for me. I loved Subspace Emissary so much! I don’t really play multiplayer much, so having that story mode would me much appreciated!

New character are cool, too! I always love a new character announcement. 🙂

No love for Smash Run? Subspace was fun and all for the most part, but my friends and I played some heavy Smash Run there for a little while. I'm sure it'll also make a great argument for why you should have a 2nd Switch around, even though it's already a co-op game.

During E3 he said he hopes we don't expect many more fighters, so I just wouldn't get your hopes up there. Maybe you'll see one or two as a surprise at the end, just don't be disappointed if there's no news to share. I'm expecting more talk about modes and extra features. Maybe new mini games, etc. I would love a story mode like in Brawl, but who knows.

Frankly, I'm not really sure what to expect here, which is probably for the best.

@PlusUltra I’ve been a huge Dixie fan since her debut and she definitely deserves a spot. Her hair would make her such a unique fighter too! King K is an obvious missing villain. If Ridley can make it why not the king? I also think Cranky deserves to be in with his cane/pogo bounce too, but that’s probably pushing it. If FE can have so many reps though...

Cranky and funky possibly as an echo fighter would be cool. Smash went so long with just one donkey kong representative its very cool to imagine more representatives.

I'm hoping the belmont rumors are true. Also smash is so cool, yeahs its the ultimate roster mixup of your favorite first party and third party characters but its much deeper than that and geniunely such a refined and quality experience.

@MoonKnight7 I agree that “Everyone + Inkling + Ridley + Daisy = Final Roster” is underrated by the conventional wisdom. But I would still bet against it. Having a whole Smash direct without a single reveal would be both unusual and unprecedented.